Loyola Medicine

MAYWOOD -- Women who come to Loyola University Health System for mammograms are finding the new digital technology used at outpatient clinics is reducing exam times by at least half. Older technology, still in use at many Chicago-area hospitals and clinics, produces film images, which doctors view on brightly lit view boxes. With the newer digital mammograms, doctors view high-resolution images on computer screens. All mammograms are digital at Loyola's Maywood campus and at Loyola clinics in Orland Park, Oakbrook Terrace, Darien and North Riverside. Mammograms also are digital at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, which recently became part of the Loyola health system. Exam times for digital mammograms are reduced by at least 50 percent because there is no waiting to develop film, said Dr. Kathleen A. Ward, medical director, women's health imaging. With both film and digital mammograms, the breast is compressed and X-rays produce an image of the breast. Digital technology enables the interpreting radiologist to manipulate the image on a computer screen. The radiologist can then adjust the brightness, change contrast or zoom in for improved close-up evaluation. This capability helps the radiologist see tiny calcium deposits that could be an early sign of breast cancer. According to a major multi-center study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, digital mammograms are more accurate than film mammograms in detecting cancer in women who are younger than 50, have dense breasts or are pre-menopausal. The technologists who perform digital mammograms at Loyola all specialize in breast imaging, and it generally takes fewer than five days to schedule a screening mammogram at Loyola. To make an appointment, call 888-LUHS-888, extension 60170. ### Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and 22 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 570-licensed bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children’s Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Health & Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb campus in Melrose Park includes the 250-bed community hospital, the Gottlieb Health & Fitness Center and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center.